Crowbars and Shotguns
by The-Real-Slim-KT
Summary: Gordon Freeman, fellow Black Mesa scientist Claire Gander, and rebel Alyx Vance fight for survival. Rated T for violence and language.
1. Ravenholm

'**Kay, so this is my first fanfic. Starts in Half Life 2, in Ravenholm. In my version, Claire was also a scientist at Black Mesa with Gordon. She has been with him the whole time, and also has a HEV suit. Alyx also accompanies them into Ravenholm instead of becoming separated. Other than that, it sticks pretty closely to the game. I haven't planned anything for certain, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a little romance thrown into this story, but I'm not revealing too much about it yet. Reviews are highly appreciated.**

**Rated for violence and language.**

"I need help, someone!" Claire called out, firing off a few double-barreled shot-gun shots.

There were at least three fastzombies coming at her by her count, and a few more normal zombies on top of that. Gordon turned, and leaned over her shoulder to take out two of the fastzombies before turning back to his side. Freeman, Claire and Alyx were standing in a triangle back to back position, fending off zombies. Claire took out the rest of the zombies, then glanced over her shoulder to see how the other two were doing. Alyx had her hands full, and Claire lended a few shots of help. The zombies began to slow in their coming, until the last one fell by Gordon's revolver.

The three relaxed, and Gordon immediately busied himself with reloading all of his weapons. Claire checked her ammo level - she was low on shotgun shells.

"Gordon, do you have any shotgun ammo? I'm low." she asked.

Gordon pulled out a small package of shells and handed them to her. She took them with a nod and reloaded her weapon.

"Well, that was fun." Alyx commented, still scanning around them for any stragglers that decided to crash the party fashionably late.

"Zombies tend to have a way of dragging fun with them wherever they go." Claire said with a slight laugh.

Gordon smiled softly and straightened up, ever silent. He motioned with his sub-machine gun that they should keep on moving. He led the way, and Alyx and Claire fell into step behind him.

"I can't see why you don't visit Ravenholm more. It's a wonderful place." Claire said, kicking a fallen zombie for good measure as they walked.

"Oh yes, perfect vacation spot." Alyx said, rolling her eyes.

Clair shifted her shotgun under her elbow to pull one of her gloves further up her wrist. She really hated her HEV suit, but it had saved her hide in more than one situation, so she couldn't complain too much. Gordon and she had received them at Black Mesa, back in the day when they were respectable scientists instead of rebels running around gunning down zombies at every turn. She pulled her weapon back into the ready position, and watched as Gordon swatted at a lone headcrab with his ever-trusty crowbar. It fell with its signature, strange half-gurgle noise. They came around the corner, and saw a huge bonfire with zombie corpses burning in it. It looked man-made.

"What the hell…" Alyx muttered.

"Evening folks!" they heard someone call out. They looked up to see an aged man standing in a building across the way above the fire, a huge black shotgun in his arms. He gave a loud laugh, and gestured towards the fire. "Been a while since we've had any visitors! Can't say I blame them, though! I did a pretty good job of burning those bastards up, didn't I?"

"I thought you said you didn't have anyone stationed in Ravenholm?" Clair muttered.

"We didn't." Alyx replied.

"Well then who's this wack job?"

"I don't know. But your enemy's enemy is your friend, so must be one of us." she said. Then she raised her voice to shout at the man. "Who are you?"

"The Reverend!" he yelled back.

"What kind of psychedelic religion would have him as a reverend?" Claire asked. Gordon chuckled softly. "Do you know who he is, Gordon?"

Freeman shook his head and proceeded up the road towards the building where the man stood. But when Claire looked up, the "Reverend" was nowhere to be seen.

"Wait, where'd he go?" she asked.

"I don't know, but we have to keep moving." Alyx said.

"That guy creeps me out. I don't like not knowing where he is. I feel like he's going to jump out of the shadows and-" Claire was cut off as the torso of a fastzombie grabbed hold of her ankle, screaming. She gave a small cry, shoved her shotgun into his head and fired both barrels. The point-blank range did the trick, and the zombie died immediately, but it's grip on her ankle remained firm. She kicked it off.

"Bastard!!" she yelled, kicking it again. "Why do they always have to do that to me?!"

"Come on." Alyx said, rolling her eyes and grinning.

"No, seriously, they only do that when I'm not ready for them!! It's messed up!" she cried, but kept on walking anyway. Gordon kept whatever thoughts were behind his smirk to himself, as usual. "Don't you give me that grin, Freeman. It wouldn't be as funny if it happened to you!"

Gordon pulled out his crowbar and waved it in the air slightly.

"Oh, yeah, the almighty crowbar." she said sarcastically. "It'll protect you from anything, right?"

Gordon nodded, and whacked yet another headcrab out of the air without even looking away from Claire. He raised one eyebrow as if to prove his point.

"Smartass." she mumbled, but grinned at him.


	2. Truth

_They continued down the road, past the bonfire. They found themselves in a courtyard, surrouded by buildings that resembled the apartments that were in the other sections of City 17, but were haunting mockeries. They were even more run down than usual, and had gore dripping down some of them. Corpses of zombies and humans alike riddled the streets, staring up with lifeless eyes. Claire subconsciously edged closer to Gordon, wrapping one of her hands around his forearm. He patted her hand comfortingly and led the two women on._

_The road ended, and the only avenue out was a dark alley. Claire released Gordon's arm, and he flicked on his flashlight, shining it down the corridor. They could see a few zombies on the ground, but they weren't fooled. These zombies weren't really dead. Well…dead dead. They were just waiting for someone to unsuspectingly walk past so they could take them by surprise. Claire raised her shotgun, but Gordon put his hand on the barrel and lowered it. She looked at him questioningly, until he pulled out a grenade. She nodded and lowered her shotgun completely. He pulled the pin and threw it down the alley. The grenade stirred the zombies, and they rose to see who was nearby. They didn't have a chance to investigate, though, as the grenade blew up, sending them flying._

_They walked down the corridor, and were met by a startling sight. There was a fence blocking their way. This normally wouldn't be a huge obstacle for the trio, but there was a new twist thrown into this fence - it was electrified. The charred corpse of something - or someone - was stuck to it, it's body jerking every once in a while with the electric shock._

"_Crap." Claire muttered, walking closer to the fence. She saw some live electric wires were entangled in the fence, which was the source of the shocks. She followed the wires with her eyes until she saw that they led into a room on the second floor in the building behind them._

"_Electricity's coming from up there." Claire said, gesturing towards it with her shotgun. _

"_How do we get in?" Alyx asked._

_Gordon began to retrace their steps, following the building until they found an entrance. They saw the door was behind the bonfire._

"_How convenient." Alyx said._

_Freeman immediately began searching the area. Alyx and Clare stayed put, watching Gordon's back so he could search without fear of being attacked. They could feel the heat from the fire on their backs. Suddenly, the fire disappeared. They turned around to see that he had turned a wheel on a gas tank, closing it and taking away the fire's base. They walked up to the door._

"_Claire and I will stay here and watch the entrance." Alyx said. Gordon nodded and entered into the building._

_It wasn't very long before they heard gunshots and zombie screams coming from the building. After a few minutes of standing in silence, Alyx spoke and startled Claire out of her wandering thoughts._

"_So I'm guessing you like Gordon, huh?" _

_Claire had to think a moment to refocus her attention on the sudden question._

"_Well, yeah. I wouldn't have stuck with him all this time if he was unbearable to be around."_

"_You know that's not the 'like' I was talking about. You have feelings for him."_

_Claire looked at Alyx and saw that she was dead serious. Of course she had feelings for Gordon - she just hadn't talked to anyone about it._

"_I…uh…"_

"_Well, look. They way I see it, you've had your shot at him. You've worked with him for a long time, and I haven't. Why not back off and let another girl have him?"_

_Claire was still fumbling for words._

"_You have feelings for him?" she asked._

"_Of course." Alyx snapped. "And it's hard enough to get him to notice me without you prancing around him like he's some sort of god. Hands off."_

_Claire was completely thrown off. Alyx had seemed friendly at first, but now she was just…well, for lack of a better word, a bitch. Before she could respond, Gordon's footsteps sounded behind them. _

"_Did you turn off the fence?" Alyx asked, acting like nothing had happened._

_Gordon nodded, but when he glanced at Claire a worried expression crossed his face. He looked at her with an inquiring look. She shook her head, and smiled, but she could tell he wasn't fooled, though he dropped the matter for now. He led them back down the alley, where the now-still corpse still hung lifelessly in the now de-electrified fence. Gordon scaled it first, and when Claire tried to follow behind him, Alyx cut in front of her and climbed first. She glared at the back of her head but didn't say anything._

"_It's starting to get dark." Alyx commented. "We need to find somewhere safe to spend the night."_

_She motioned towards a building._

"_Let's see if there are any rooms in there that are livable enough."_

_They entered building, shot a lone zombie that was wandering through the hall, and opened/broke down each door until they found one that seemed untouched by the undead. It had two wooden chairs, a wardrobe and a single bed frame and mattress._

"_I call dibs on the mattress." Alyx said, walking over to it and stretching out._

_The other two offered no argument. Gordon walked over to the closet that was attached to the room and found a few blankets. He tossed one to each of the girls, and laid one down on the wooden floor for himself. Gordon moved the wardrobe in front of the door to slow down any unexpected visitors. Claire didn't realize she was staring at him until he looked over at her and smiled. She smiled back and quickly looked down. She set down her shotgun and small pistol, and spread out the blanket. She sat down. What she wouldn't give for a pair of pajamas right then. _

_Almost as if reading her mind, Gordon opened the wardrobe and pulled out a t-shirt and some soft shorts. He walked over to her and handed them over, grinning. _

"_Thanks." she said, walking over to the closet and shutting the door. _

_She climbed out of her HEV suit in the darkness and pulled the T-shirt on. It came down to almost halfway down her thighs. She was about to pull on the shorts when she heard a small hiss. She froze, the only light coming out from the crack at the bottom of the door. _

_Something leaped onto Claire's shoulder, and she screamed, slamming open the door and scrambling out, smacking whatever it was off of her shoulder. She ran into a very surprised Gordon. Alyx whipped out her gun and shot the poison headcrab that had scared Claire. She buried her head into Gordon's chest and shivered, the adrenaline slowly leaving her body. Gordon wrapped his arms around her and stroked her hair comfortingly, and held her until she calmed down. _

"_Sorry." she said, stepping back. _

_Gordon waved his hand and gave her a 'don't-worry-about-it' smile. He then glanced down, and his cheeks flushed red. He averted his gaze. Claire was about to ask him what was the matter, when she realized that she hadn't put the shorts on yet. The t-shirt was the only thing that covered her long legs, leaving most of them out in the open. She blushed furiously and went back in the closet, but not before checking it for any other inhabitants, which there weren't any. _

_She slipped into the shorts and stepped back out of the closet. She glanced at Alyx, who was glaring daggers at her, obviously not pleased by the physical contact that had taken place between her and Gordon. Not being able to help herself, she smirked as she walked past. She set her HEV suit down next to her weapons. She curled up on the blanket, and pulled the half she wasn't lying on over her, to create a make-shift sleeping bag. She shivered with the cold, sleeping on the floor wasn't helping. _

_Claire awoke to a completely dark room. She wondered what had woken her up, when she realized that Gordon was shaking her shoulder gently. She sat up, and Gordon pulled her over to the door. Alyx's soft snores was the only sound. He moved the wardrobe quietly, then opened the door. Claire stepped out into the dimly lit hallway, rubbing her eyes tiredly. Gordon closed the door behind them, and led her a little ways from the room, out of earshot. He then turned to face her._

_Claire looked at him, and could tell he wanted her to explain what had happened earlier when he had been looking to shut off the fence. _

"_Gordon, I really can't talk about it." she said. _

_Normally, she would tell Gordon anything, and in this case it wasn't because she feared Alyx. It was that in telling him, she would also reveal her feelings for him. If he didn't return them, she didn't want the rest of the trip to be awkward, and she feared that if he knew he wouldn't want to be around her anymore. The thought made her stomach sick. He moved forward and put a hand around her forearm, pleading. She decided to just be out with it._

"_It's just…" she paused, and he nodded encouragingly. "While you were gone, Alyx asked me if I had feelings for you. When I said yes, she told me that I should 'back off' because she wanted you all to herself."_

_There. She had said it. She couldn't look at Gordon's face. They stood frozen for a few moments, and Claire feared she would fall over. She felt sick to her stomach and her knees threatened to give out underneath her._

"_I…you don't have to…"she sighed at her fumbling lips. "I know you're probably really weirded out, but I think it's only fair you know-"_

_Then something happened she would have never expected. Gordon kissed her._

_At first, she didn't know what was happening. This couldn't be happening. Could it? She kept on expecting herself to be waking up from a dream…but she didn't. Gordon hadn't run away screaming. He hadn't gotten angry. He was KISSING her. Wake up stupid! Her mind yelled. Her brain started functioning again, and she kissed him back. She lifted her arms and slid her fingers into his short, messy, brown hair. He smiled softly against her lips, and pulled away, resting his forehead on hers. He laid his palm against her cheek, and she leaned into it, loving the long-awaited touch of his hand._

_Gordon suddenly snapped his head up, and stared down the hallway. Claire turned to see the last thing on the planet she wanted to - Alyx standing, watching them._


	3. and Consequences

None of them said a word. They were frozen. Alyx was glaring at Claire, her pistol gripped tightly in her fist. Gordon still had one hand on Claire's hip, the other hovering next to her face. Claire's fingers were intertwined in Freeman's hair. Alyx was the one who made the first move, and what she did Claire didn't expect at all. Her pistol twitched upwards, as if she were thinking about actually shooting them. Gordon moved Claire behind him slightly to protect her. Then, Alyx simply turned and walked out of the building.

"Alyx! What the hell are you doing?!" Claire yelled out. Alyx didn't respond. "You're going to get killed!!"

Gordon ran after her. Claire started to follow, but he stopped her.

"What?" Claire asked.

Gordon motioned to her clothes, and she realized she didn't have her suit or any weapons. She sprinted off towards the room while Gordon chased after Alyx. Claire scrambled into her suit, not bothering to take off her other clothes. She grabbed her weapons and the shotgun and revolver that Gordon had left behind, and headed out of the room. She jogged down the hallway towards the direction that the other two had headed. Then she realized something. She was alone.

And that was a bad thing.

Claire had to find the other two immediately. She exited the building. She glanced around, but couldn't see Alyx or Gordon. Carrying two extra weapons wasn't easy, and she was still wrestling with them, trying to find a comfortable way to hold them. She finally ended up shifting three to one arm, and using her free hand to hold Gordon's revolver at the ready.

"Leave me alone Gordon!!" she heard.

She was surprised, it seemed to come from above her. She looked up, and saw Alyx on a ledge on the building to her left, with Gordon standing on a platform almost directly above her. She wondered how Alyx had gotten over there, then realized she must have taken some flying leap of faith from the platform that Gordon was on. She looked on nervously as Gordon prepared to jump. He made it, landing slightly roughly on the edge.

"Gordon!" she called up to him. When he looked at her, she tossed up his two guns. He nodded in thanks, then turned back to Alyx, who was standing at the far end of the ledge, looking as if she were going to jump off. Claire climbed up two ladders until she reached the platform, then closed her eyes and leaped onto the outcropping. She scuffed her hands up a bit in the landing, but over all it was pretty graceful.

She glanced up and saw that Alyx and Gordon had disappeared. She walked to the edge where she had last seen them and looked down. There were some wooden boards suspended in the air, held by some cross-support beams. Claire jumped down onto them, trying not to loose her balance in the landing. Alyx was trying to clamber through a window into a building at the other end. Crazy bitch. Claire thought.

Gordon was right behind Alyx, and Claire was soon to follow. She entered the small room and saw that Gordon was standing in front of the doorway, blocking Alyx from going any further. She turned to exit out the window again, and saw Claire blocking her in that direction, too. She scowled and stared at the floor.

"Leave me alone." Alyx said.

"In the middle of Ravenholm? You're crazy. We can't just let you wander around here alone. Even if you hate us, we still have to stick together. After we get out of here, you can run off and do whatever the hell you want." Claire said. Gordon nodded in agreement.

Alyx continued glaring at the floor, refusing to look at either of them.

"Fine. But you two get all lovey dovey in front of me, I'm out." she snapped.

Claire glanced up, and saw that Gordon was mouthing Alyx's words, making a weird face and crossing his eyes, mocking her. Claire fought furiously to keep from bursting out laughing. She shook her head and made a cutting motion across her throat to tell him to knock it off; if she started laughing, there was no way she would be able to convince Alyx to come with them. He simply grinned and winked at her. When she felt confident she wouldn't start cracking up, she spoke again.

"'Kay. We might as well keep going now." Claire said. She knew this was going to suck. She had loved Gordon for so long, and now when she found out he loved her too, she couldn't go near him. She felt like punching Alyx, but refrained. They had to get out of this.

They entered the adjacent room to find a huge, gaping hole in the floor. They glanced down into it, and saw a zombie wandering around, moaning to itself. Gordon took out his chunky Anti-Grav gun, grabbed small fuel tank with it, and launched it at the zombie. It exploded on contact, killing the zombie and catching its corpse on fire. They all dropped down into it, and Alyx shot a headcrab that was waiting for them. They went into a hallway, then exited through a door into a small alleyway.

"What the heck?" Claire muttered. There was a small crank, with a rope attached to it, which strung around some beams to support an old white car that was hanging at the mouth of the alley. Gordon studied it with a experienced eye.

"Guys…get ready…" Claire said, raising her trusty shotgun. There were at least fifteen zombies wandering around in the courtyard at the end of the alley. Gordon suddenly moved, and walked over to the lever. He waited until there were about five zombies under the car, then pulled the lever. The car dropped, crushing all of the zombies under it. The car automatically lifted and dropped a few times.

"That reverend guy is officially my best friend." Claire said. Gordon repeated the wait-for-the-zombies-then-drop-the-car method until they were all dead. He lifted the car again and made sure it was staying up until he and the girls walked out into the place where about five roads met. Looking down each one, they saw that all the roads had been boarded off.

"Now what?" Alyx asked, looking at Gordon with a solve-this-one-wise-guy look. He glanced up, and suddenly seemed to understand something. He walked back to the lever, and pulled it. When the car dropped, he jumped on top of it, then stepped onto some boards suspended above the street. Claire made Alyx go next, to make sure she didn't run off on them again. After she was safely on the boards with Gordon, Claire walked up to the car. The cables supporting the car creaked, and she hesitated a moment before stepping on it.

She got about halfway up before she knew the cables were going to snap. She dove off, just as the car crashed down, landing inches from her body. Gordon looked over with an expression of panic, then relief as he saw she was ok. But not for long. In the distance, Claire heard a very distinct noise….

Fastzombies. And lots of them.

"Shit." she muttered.

**AUTHORS NOTE: I have no idea why the last chapter was italicized and underlined. I hope this chapter doesn't do it too. :/**


	4. You both owe me one

**AUTHORS NOTE: I deviated from the game in this chapter. I didn't realized how effing long the level Ravenholm was, and I knew that there was no way I would have the patience to write excitingly for that long in a restricted setting. From now on, I will follow most of the basic events and/or settings of the game, with my own twists thrown in. **

**This level is longer than the others because I couldn't find a good breaking point. Good stuff.**

**Reviews make me do a happy dance :3**

**________________**

"Gordon…" she said, but he already had his crossbow out, his eyes darting about wildly for any sign of the zombies. Alyx looked uninterested, and absentmindedly pulled at a fingernail.

Claire listened carefully, trying to determine where -

"Over there." she said, snapping her gun around and training it on one of the fences. Gordon did likewise.

She waited, wondering what was taking them so long to get there…

"Don't move." a filtered voice snapped. Claire felt the muzzle of a gun press into the back of her head.

"Drop it." she obligingly dropped her gun.

She glanced up at Gordon, and saw that he had also dropped his weapon, the laser of a sniper rifle trained on his forehead. Alyx was nowhere to be seen. The little bitch must've taken off while their backs were turned. Claire heard movement behind her, and more Combine flooded in from the roofs and surrounding buildings. Claire counted roughly thirty soldiers. They were severely outnumbered.

She then realized they had walked into a trap. The sabotaged cable and fastzombie calls were distractions so that the Combine could get in close.

"Get down." a soldier said to Gordon, who hopped down and raised his hands. One Combine stepped forward and confiscated his weapons, then did the same to Claire. They were both fitted with handcuffs.

"Move." said the robot-like voice.

One of the fences lowered, and more soldiers appeared behind it. It was a false fence. Claire saw a dropship in a courtyard down the street waiting for them. She glanced over at Gordon, whose eyes were practically bugging out of his head. They were screwed.

The two were shoved forward, and Claire let out a small, growl like noise. Oh, how she hated the Combine. She almost hoped they were being taken to Dr. Breen so she could give him a piece of her mind.

Almost.

The party reached the dropship, and the prisoners were led up its ramp. There were benches on either side of them.

"Sit."

Gordon and Claire sat down across from each other.

One soldier reached into a case and pulled out two syringes with some sort of liquid in them. He walked over to Claire first. His gloved hand gripped her hair and shoved her head to the side, then jammed the needle into her neck.

"Jeez." she said through clenched teeth. "Are you a certified nurse? I'm not sure this is sanitary."

One soldier let out a noise that Claire almost took as a laugh. He then moved on to Gordon with the other needle. She shook her head. Her vision was already going blurry. All of a sudden, the ground was coming towards her and she blacked out.

__

"Claire?….Claire!"

She tried to open her eyes, but her lids felt a thousand pounds each. _Screw you. _she thought.

"Claire!"

She groaned, and cracked one eyelid open.

"What the hell do you want?" she snapped at the Combine that was standing over her. Her voice sounded deep and raspy.

To her surprise, the soldier reached up and removed his mask.

"Aw, c'mon, is that any way to talk to an old friend?

Claire opened her eyes fully and sat up, noting the absence of her handcuffs.

"Barney…??" she asked, bewildered.

"In the flesh." he said, grinning.

"Where's…" her question was answered when she looked across from her and saw Gordon, also just starting to sit up. Barney walked over and started talking to Gordon. Claire raised a hand to her forehead. Whatever they had given her, it sure made her head hurt like hell.

"…now we don't have much time, you two have to get out of here! Here, I got your weapons back."

He handed them their guns. Claire felt more secure immediately.

"Where did the gunship land?" Claire asked.

"Outskirts of a Combine camp for fuel. Now, I got some rebels to hide a dune buggy in a group of rocks about quarter mile that way." he pointed. "If you follow the highway, there are a few rebel bases along it that will help you. The drug I gave you both to counter the sedative is going to make you groggy and give you a headache for a while. Now go, before they come back!"

"Barney…I owe you one." she said, standing up.

"You both owe me one." he said, pointedly looking at Gordon, who shrugged sheepishly. "Now get outta here."

Barney lowered the ramp for them, and they ran down it, going in the direction he had indicated. They ran, not bothering to look back. She could've run back and kissed his feet right then, but she'd rather get the hell outta there at the moment. Suddenly paying attention to their surroundings, Claire realized that they were on a beach, the ocean to their left and an elevated road to their right hugging the hills.

Just like Barney had said, when they reached a group of rocks, there was an orange dune buggy nestled in them. It didn't have any coverings, it was just a metal frame with the engine attached. Claire noted the rebel symbol, the same one that was on her and Gordon's HEV suits, spray-painted on the rock next to it. Claire slid into the passenger seat, and curiously peered at a small piece of paper that was taped to the steering wheel. It had two simple words scrawled on it: Good Luck.

Gordon climbed into the drivers seat. Claire looked up, and realized that there was a gun mounted in front of her.

"Score!" she said, gripping the handles of the gun.

Gordon grinned, and turned the ignition key. The engine roared to life, the buggy vibrating with the hum of it. He then gripped the steering wheel, and stared straight ahead, as if he wasn't sure what to do.

"Do you need me to drive?" Claire asked. Gordon still didn't move. "Do you not know how to drive it or some-"

Claire was cut off as Gordon yanked the buggy into reverse, turned around to look behind him, and punched the gas pedal, all in one fluid movement. Claire yelped and struggled to strap herself in. Gordon then spun back around, shoved the buggy into drive, and hit the gas again, the tires struggling to gain traction on the sandy beach. They shot off, sped up the hill, and got a few feet of air before landing roughly on the highway. Claire let out a whoop and gripped the mounted gun. The air rushed past them, and as they passed a sign, Claire barely made out the words "Highway 17".

They drove for about a mile, then they reached a small house that was set to the right side of the highway. It was held up by supports that elevated it about twenty feet off the beach, connecting it to the level of the highway. Gordon slowed, and peered at it, looking for signs of any rebel activity. He then stopped the vehicle in front of it, motioned for Claire to wait in the car, and entered the house, gun drawn. Claire drummed her thumbs on the grips of the gun.

Something moved in Claire's peripheral vision. She looked past the house onto the beach, but didn't see anything. She unbuckled herself, and walked to the twenty foot drop off. She looked again, but still couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. She turned to go back to the car.

Suddenly, her footing gave out, and she yelped as she slid down the slightly angled cliff before landing roughly on the sand below. She felt something in her lower leg snap as she landed. Her eyes brimmed with tears, and she fought not to curse as the pain set in. Her suit beeped twice.

_Minor fracture, detected. _It announced.

"Yeah, thanks, I noticed." she said through clenched teeth.

She stood up on her good leg and took a step towards it. She'd have to find a way back up. She decided to try and climb the cliff.

The ground trembled, and Claire turned around slowly to look behind her. She saw the sand move in one spot, and then a Guardian antlion's head pushed out of it. It emerged all the way, shook itself off, and roared a deafening roar.

"Shit." she muttered, then spun around and clawed madly at the cliff, climbing up as fast as she could. "GORDON!!" she screamed.

She was about five feet in the air when the Guardian first charged. It ran towards her, head lowered, bellowing. She managed to get another two feet up when the huge antlion slammed into the cliff not inches below her feet. She put her good leg on it's head as a foothold, then shoved off and got up ten feet in the air. She then realized the cliff went straight up from there, and that there was no way that she could get up any further. The Guradian stood up on it's hind legs, and tried to climb up the cliff to get to her.

Gunshots sounded, and green blood sprayed from the Guardians face and onto Claire's as bullets hit it. It roared again and dropped back on all fours. Claire looked up and saw Gordon, his brow furrowed, aiming his pulse rifle at the huge antlion.

"Gordon!" she called out again. "I'm stuck, I can't get up any further!"

He glanced down at her, then tossed a grenade at the Guardian. It exploded, but it just made the antlion more angry. It slammed into the cliff again, and Claire clung to the dirt, trying not to fall. She glanced up, and Gordon tossed her the revolver.

She caught it, turned, and took aim, firing at the Guardian's head. She shot it three times, and it finally had an effect on it. The Guardian turned away, shaking it's head in pain. Gordon took out his submachine gun, and fired an SMG grenade. The Guardian let out one final roar before collapsing, finally dead. She breathed in relief, and glanced up at Gordon again.

"I fell." she said.

Gordon signaled her to wait there, then disappeared again. Claire rested her head against the cliff, her fingers white from gripping at whatever solid part of the cliff she could get a hold of. She closed her eyes and sighed. She hated antlions.

After a few minutes, she heard the buggy start up, and dust fell from above as it backed up to the edge of the drop off. A rope attached to it's bumper lowered, and Gordon looked down at her. She grabbed the rope and tied it around her waist, then nodded up at him. He disappeared from sight, and Claire began to rise as the buggy drove forward. She guided herself past sharp rocks and bumps. When she was finally back on solid ground, she tugged the rope off and laid down, staring at the sky. The adrenaline in her system was just starting to die down.

Gordon powered down the vehicle, untied the rope and knelt beside her. She sat up, and they hugged. He entangled one of his hands in her hair and pressed his face into her shoulder. He then kissed her briefly, and pulled her to her feet. She took a step towards the buggy, and a shot of pain went through her leg, sending her to one knee. Shit. She had forgotten about that. Gordon hurried over to her worriedly.

"I fractured my leg when I fell. I forgot." she mumbled.

_Minor fracture detected. _Her suit reminded her.

"Yes, I know!" she snapped. Gordon laughed softly,

_Automatic medical systems engaged. _She cursed when she felt a small prick in her leg. _Morphine administered._

The suit also applied some sort of medication that greatly sped up the healing of bones to about a half an hour. She had no idea how it worked. but was grateful for it, though she felt she had had enough needles stuck in her for one day.

Gordon pulled to her feet, and picked her up in his arms. He placed her in the passenger seat of the dune buggy, and brushed her hair away from her face before walking around and sitting in the driver's seat. They took off down the highway again. Claire held the gun, waiting for any antlion bastard to dare show it's ugly face to her.


	5. Rocket Launchers

**A/N: So, I'm having trouble deciding what to do with the next chapter. I wrote one with Gordon and Claire hanging out with the rebels. I wanted to show how the rebels felt like one big family, but I'm not sure if that would fit in with the rest of the story. I think i'm going to stick with my current idea, but I'm not 100% sure. Enjoy!**

They had been driving for about fifteen minutes. Or was it twenty? Thirty? What difference did it make. Claire had lost count. She wasn't used to the calm. No one shooting at them. No zombies on their tail. She glanced at Gordon, who also looked slightly bored as they drove along.

Claire stared ahead, not really seeing what she was looking at, lost in her own thoughts. They went full speed through yet another dark tunnel. She peered at the road ahead. Something didn't look right…

"Gordon!!" she screamed.

She could see that the road dropped off abruptly, almost not visible from their position because of the angle of the road. Gordon slammed on the brakes, and yanked the steering wheel to the left, trying desperately to stop before they careened off the road. The wheels squealed in protest, and the engine stuttered. Claire clung to whatever she could get a handhold on.

As they neared the cliff, the buggy slowed, skidding along the pavement, Claire's side of the car facing the cliff. The front right wheel edged over the cliff, but the rest of it stopped before the entire thing fell over. Claire let out a breath that she hadn't known she was holding. Gordon put a hand over one of hers. She glanced down and realized how she looked.

One of her hands was clinging to her leather seat, and the other white-knuckled hand was gripping a support pole on the structure of the buggy. Her feet were pressed straight in front of her. Her entire body was trembling with adrenaline. She forced her left hand away from the seat, crescent shaped holes remaining where her fingernails had dug into the leather. She then let go of the pole, and relaxed her legs. Gordon ran a hand over his face, and unbuckled himself. Claire also released her straps and exited out of Gordon's side after him. She limped to the side of the road and sat on a boulder, and put her head in her hands, trying to stop herself from shaking.

She glanced up and saw Gordon taking out the anti-grav gun. He fired it and spun the buggy around. Claire glanced to her left, and saw a semi-steep hill that led off the road and onto the beach..

"We can use that path." she called to him, nodding towards it. He nodded, and climbed into the drivers seat. Claire got up and sat in her seat, and grabbed the gun again.

They drove down the hill and onto the sand. As they passed between two large boulders, antlions began burrowing out of the sand and coming towards them. Claire grinned.

She aimed the gun and fired, a beam of energy bursting out and killing the antlion. This was going to be fun.

She shot five more, and as they climbed up another hill, they saw a house. There was a thumper out front to keep the antlions away. A single Combine soldier came out of the house and fired at them, but Claire quickly silenced him. They didn't bother stopping, and continued down another path back onto the beach.

Claire continued shooting any antlions they saw. As they drove along, she saw a huge wrecked ship half-buried in the sand. When was the last time she had been on a boat? She couldn't remember. Then again, there were a lot of the things she couldn't remember the last time she did. Like eat at a restaurant, take a shower, have a peaceful nights sleep…

She pushed the thoughts away. Focusing on the negative would do nothing for her. She continued shooting. They passed another house, but again didn't stop. They just wanted to get the heck outta there. Another abode came into view, this time with Combine soldiers out in front of it. Gordon gunned it, and hit one soldier who didn't get out of the way fast enough. Claire shot anther one.

They drove for anther few seconds before they saw some docks, now suspended above the beach instead of water. They glanced up and saw a person standing on one, who immediately turned and ran towards some houses. They went up another hill and pulled into a spacious courtyard which all the houses faced.

"Gordon Freeman!" one man called out.

"You guys know you have Combine just down the road?" Claire said.

"Yeah, we're expecting gunships at any moment. Quick, get inside the basement. Colonel Cubbage will be glad to see you made it."

As they exited the vehicle, Claire tentatively put weight on the leg she had injured. It felt fine. They followed the rebel into the basement of the nearest building. The man Claire took to be Cubbage was apparently in the middle of a briefing to a few rebels that were gathered around him, along with a vortagaunt.

"…this steerable rocket launcher, is our best bet for taking down a gunship." Claire noted his heavy but unusual British accent, and the and the fact that he was holding a chunky RPG in his arms. He took notice of them. "Ah, hello! I'll be right with you. Now, where was I..? Ah, yes. Using the laser guide, you can steer the rocket past the gunship's defenses, and prevent it from shooting down your rocket. This will only anger it at first, but, if you can survive long enough to make several direct hits, you'll be rewarded with a prize worthy of any mantle piece."

Claire wanted this gun now. She grinned at her thoughts. No sane person would trust her with a rocket launcher.

"Now, who's going to be the lucky one to carry it into combat?" Cubbage turned towards them. "Ah yes, Gordon Freeman! Couldn't have asked for a finer volunteer!"

Gordon glanced at her, as if to ask permission. She waved her hand forward. He took the rocket launcher, and held it against his shoulder in the ready position to get a feel for it. With a small click, a red laser appeared from it's nose.

"Colonel Odessa Cubbage, at your service!" he said, giving a slight bow.

Suddenly, alarms began to blare, making Claire jump. From outside, she heard someone yell, "Gunship!!"

"Damn." Cubbage muttered. "Let me just send a warning to lighthouse point. Then I'll come right out and lend a hand! Go on! Teach that gunship a lesson it will never forget!"

Gordon and Claire took off upstairs until they reached the second floor of the house. The roof was missing, leaving it open, but providing some cover. Perfect for sniping the gunship. Claire noticed three rockets in one the corner. Gordon stood at the edge of the wall, and Claire stood behind him, and handed him a rocket. He loaded it in, aimed, and shot.

The rocket hit the gunship, making it careen to one side. It turned and fired at them, the bullets making hundreds of thudding sounds as they hit the other side of the wall. Claire handed him another rocket. Gordon shot, but missed. She handed him the last rocket. It hit, but it still didn't seem to have any effect on the gunship.

"I'm going to get more ammo. Wait here." she said, but Gordon grabbed her wrist. "I'll be fine, don't worry. I saw some in the old barn when we pulled in. I'll run fast." he released her wrist, but still looked worried.

Claire bolted down the stairs and back down into the basement. Cubbage was still apparently trying to contact the other rebels. She peered around the corner. The gunship was still firing at Gordon. She took a deep breath. The barn was on the other side of the courtyard. She'd have to be fast.

She sprinted up the slight hill and raced across, running as fast as she could. The gunship seemed to realize that Gordon wasn't going to shoot at it for the moment, and turned instead on Claire. The ground around her coughed up dust as bullets hit it, missing her by mere inches. Just as she was sure she was going to get shot, she burst into the barn, sliding to a stop. Just as she had seen earlier, there were five rockets piled in a corner. She snatched them up, then bolted back out of the barn. The bullets continued to rain down around her. They were getting closer, and Claire was sure she wasn't going to make it back into the house…

She dove, and slid across the dirt floor of the basement. The gunship made an angry noise as she escaped unscathed once again. Not stopping to think about how close she had been to death, she got up, and shot up the two flights of stairs back to the roof. She slammed into the wall behind Gordon and shoved a rocket into his hands. The gunship had apparently forgotten about them for the moment and had taken to firing at the other rebels.

Gordon had to shoot the gunship three more times before it had any visible effect. Smoke finally began to pour from the engine, and one more rocket took it down for good. As it plummeted to the earth, a few small explosions sounded before the grand finale blew it to pieces, which landed in various places around the rebel camp.

Cheers and applause sounded as the rebels emerged from their hiding places. Claire and Gordon looked over at each other, Claire still breathing heavily from her run and Gordon still tense from the fight, and smiled. They thumped down the stairs into the basement again. Cubbage was still bent over his radio.

"Well. That's that." he said, turning to them. "Sorry I couldn't be of more help. The silence at that outpost leads me to believe that it has come under Combine control. You're welcome to stay here until you're rested."

"Thanks." Claire nodded once. "You guys don't happen to have a working sink, do you?"

"First floor bathroom."

Claire left Gordon and went upstairs. She entered the small, rundown bathroom, closed and locked the door, and looked in the cracked mirror. Her eyes widened.

Her face was covered in antlion and zombie blood, along with dust and God knew what else. Underneath the grime she could see that she had dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep, and her cheekbones stood out, her poor diet evident. She took off her gloves, and ransacked the bathroom until she found an old washcloth in a forgotten corner of a cabinet. She got to work scrubbing her face. After all the grime was gone from her face, she ran her hair under the sink until it too was free of gore, then fluffed it until it was mostly dry. Claire went downstairs to rejoin Gordon and the other rebels.


End file.
